Comments on: Rosemary appreciated http://rosemarysutcliff.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/rosemary-appreciated/ British historical novelist and children's author. Born 1920. Died 1992. Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:54:37 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Andrew Jenkins http://rosemarysutcliff.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/rosemary-appreciated/#comment-28 Andrew Jenkins Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:56:14 +0000 http://rosemarysutcliff.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/rosemary-appreciated/#comment-28 One of my earliest memories is of hearing 'The Eagle of the Ninth' broadcast on the Home Service in 1957 (I was six). I can still hear the song in the introduction. That book and the 'Sword at Sunset' have stayed with me all my life and inspired a life-long interest in history and legends. The story begins with the song: 'A long march, a long march And twenty years in store, When I left my girl at Clusium Beside the threshing floor.' For the last 30 years I have worked in villages in Asia and seen many threshing floors, yards in the centre of clusters of farm-houses. In the radio version of the story, Marius Goring plays Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young cohort commander in the Roman Army. I recently dicovered that the original meaning of 'cohort' is a yard or enclosure, presumably where the famers/soldiers assembled. Did Rosemary Sutcliff know this when she wrote the song about the girl in Clusium? I bet she did! What an inspiration she was and is! Andrew Jenkins, Bangladesh. One of my earliest memories is of hearing ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’ broadcast on the Home Service in 1957 (I was six). I can still hear the song in the introduction. That book and the ‘Sword at Sunset’ have stayed with me all my life and inspired a life-long interest in history and legends.

The story begins with the song:

‘A long march, a long march
And twenty years in store,
When I left my girl at Clusium
Beside the threshing floor.’

For the last 30 years I have worked in villages in Asia and seen many threshing floors, yards in the centre of clusters of farm-houses.

In the radio version of the story, Marius Goring plays Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young cohort commander in the Roman Army.

I recently dicovered that the original meaning of ‘cohort’ is a yard or enclosure, presumably where the famers/soldiers assembled.

Did Rosemary Sutcliff know this when she wrote the song about the girl in Clusium? I bet she did!

What an inspiration she was and is!

Andrew Jenkins,
Bangladesh.

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